24-08-24 PHOTOS: Washington Terminal

Typically when one railfans in Washington, DC proper that means something to do with Washington Union Terminal or the DC Metro. However one might be surprised to learn that there are in fact a few other railfan locations in the city and in the late summer of 2024 I took the day to hang out with a friend and visit as many as was feasible, getting plenty of photos along the way ( mirror ).

The initial stop after arriving at Union Station was the southern end of the First St tunnels that allow passenger trains to proceed to and from points south of the city via the former RF&P and Southern Main Lines. The First Street Tunnel tunnels under the literal Capitol Hill via the First St right of way before turning slightly at the southern portal. At the portal I managed to catch Amtrak Regional Train 82 lead by the ultimate P42DC, #207.

Moving to a slightly different photo position I managed to south southbound Carolinian Train 79 with P42DC #144. The B&O style position light signals mark the start of K TOWER's territory and are likely mounted on poles that date to the 1908 opening of the station.

The passenger tracks to Union Station rejoin the old PRR freight route to Potomac Yard at VIRGINIA tower, located near 2nd St and E.

While there I found myself somewhat out of position to catch a southbound CSX freight train lead by CM44AC rebuild #7209.

The next stop was the L'Enfant Plaza VRE station where I was in time to catch Amtrak P42DC #77 bringing Regional Train 153 south out of Union Station.

Even though VRE doesn't run on weekends there is plenty of Amtrak and CSX traffic to keep one busy. In my case Regional Train 88 appeared not long after with P42DC #117 leading.

The next location was near the WMATA Rhode Island Ave station on the Red Line. Passing Brentwood Yard en route I spotted the green painted WMATA track geometry car #GV01.

I also spotted a pair of squabs who seemed a bit too big for their nest, mugging one of their parents for food. I guess failure to launch isn't just a human thing.



For anyone who never got a chance to ride a WMATA 5000-series car, you still can at the Washington, DC Metrobar where #5058 has been converted into an eatery in the fashion of an old diner. Just follow the pedestrian walkway over the CSX Metropolitan Sub and you'll see it.

The next stop was Amtrak's Ivy City Yard, specifically WYE BRIDGE interlocking which is directly adjacent to a public road behind the DC Office of Film and Television. At Ivy City Amtrak stores all sorts of interesting equipment such as inspection car #10001 Beech Grove, Theatre Car #10004, Catenary Measurement Car #10005 and the Acela Track Geometry car #10003.

WYE BRIDGE is one of a handful of interlockings on non-revenue trackage, but compared to others in New York and Boston, it is much easier to photograph. The name comes from the bridge carrying the CSX Metropolitan Sub, which also completes the north leg of a conceptual wye between the old B&O F and QN towers that provide access to Washington Union Terminal.

All train movements between the Washington Union Terminal station tracks and Ivy City storage yard/engine terminal/shoppes must pass through WYE BRIDGE. Here we see a cut of lite engines, including ALC42 #342, #344 and P42DC #111 reversing to the engine facility from Amtrak's own turning wye.

My goal that day was to catch Amtrak Capitol Limited Train 29 as it reversed out of the yard and to its customary birth on Track 15 or Track 16. It had already been announced that Trains 29 and 30 would be replaced by Miami to Chicago through train #40/41 under the Floridian name.

The Capitol Limited had already been reduced to a 4-5 car consist due to equipment availability pressures. Today ALC42 #341 was the sole source of motive power.

An interesting detail is that trains traveling between WYE BRIDGE and Union Terminal have to travel through the MARC storage yard.

Walking back to Union Station from Ivy City, the 9th St bridge provides an excellent view of the Ivy City shoppe and engine terminal complex.

A pair of Next Gen Acelas were stashed in the back lot along with a red faced P42C cab car conversion.

The 9th St Bridge also provides a nice overhead view of the NEC. Here we see Acela power car #2031 on the tail end of a northbound departure.

I was running low on time before my departure so I decided to use the WMATA to get from New York Ave to Union Station. On the platform I was treated to a pair 3k series cars #3185 and #3128.

My MARC Penn Line train was departing from track #8. Kawasaki cab car #7851 was sitting by uncoupled at the buffer stop as some sort of spare.

MARC MP36PH-3C #34 in the Union Station MARC yard.

After a full day and 5-7 miles of walking I wound up back where I started at the BWI Airport Rail Station.

That's all for this week. Check back next time as I poke around both ends of Amtrak's Susquehanna River Bridge.

24-01-14 PHOTOS: N&W CPL Hunt

Over MLK Day weekend of 2024 I went out with a friend for a day long driving tour of Northern Virginia to confirm and photograph interlocking locations on the NS H-Line that were still equipped with Norfolk and Western style position light signals. Over the years I have been able to document many such locations on the northern end of the H-Line above Waynesboro, but as isolated re-signaling efforts continue to take place I wanted to make a push to document whichever ones were left. Unfortunately Virginia is surprisingly long in the diagonal direction and I was forced to call the day a bit early, but overall, the trip was still successful ( mirror ).

The first stop was was in the town of Stanley, VA which had lost its N&W position light signals since my last visit in May of 2021. Just as I pulled up I heard the whistle of an approaching train which turned out to be a southbound manifest freight led by AC44C6M #4424 and C44-9W #9780 with AC44C6M #4292 doing the DPU thing on the rear.

The next stop was the town of Shenandoah, VA where NS has a sizable yard for local freight with operations run out of the historic N&W station building.

Although largely hidden behind some hopper cars I managed to spot AC44C6M #4364 getting its fuel tank topped up.

In a rare bit of good news SHENANDOAH interlocking at the south end of the yard had yet to have its signals replaced. The H-Line had its signaling logic modernized in the late 1990's, keeping the older signals as was the prevailing practice for most of the 20th century. Therefore there was been less pressure to replace the signals themselves.

The next stop was LEWIS RUN, which is the last position lit interlocking north of Waynesboro (adjacent to the south end of Shenandoah National Park and the C&O Blue Ridge Tunnel) as LYNWOOD interlocking at the south end of the siding had already been re-signaled.

Seeing as driving to the next position light interlocking south of Waynesboro would have taken the better part of an hour one way, my friend and I decided to abort and head back north, stopping off for a pint at Elkton Brewing. Upon our departure we noticed an Approach Diverging signal indication displayed at ELKTON interlocking.

Who should appear but the same southbound manifest freight we had caught earlier that morning in Stanley with #4424, #9780 and #4292. It seems that the train took a few hours to set out cars at Shenandoah yard allowing us to run into it a second time that day. Although the Approach Diverging signal indicated a meet was being set up at the Stonewall siding, I was on the block to meet up with a third party for dinner and had to continue northward.

22-11-10 PHOTOS: Baltimore Penn Rehab

Baltimore Penn Station is currently undergoing a revitalization project that will see the upper floors converted into some sort of commercial space, the tracks #1 and #3 platform re-opened and converted to high level and a new track #8 platform constructed with a connection to the current concourse. In the fall of 2022 I modified my travel plans to engineer a brief layover at Baltimore Penn and get some photos. Also included in the full set ( mirror ) are photos from Philly and around the Milepost 110 automatic signal in Severn, MD.

Waiting for a northbound MARC train at BWI, a peak period DC bound train was first to arrive on the far track with Kab Kar #7858 and HHP-8 #4911.

My MARC train was being hauled by MP36PH-3C #33. Note the smoke from heavy breaking.

At Baltimore Penn Station the cab car on my train was split lever Bomber #8058.

The low level track 1-3 platform had been completely removed in preparation for a high level conversion. Unfortunately this would mean the end of Baltimore's traditional brick paved platforms.

Departing Track #7 was a southbound MARC train with MP36PH-3C #17.

One discovery was the installation of a new southbound B&O style CPL dwarf signal on track #7 in CHARLES interlocking. This and an adjacent PRR style pedestal signal replaced a cantilever structure at the same location to make way for the new track #8 platform.

Although the exterior of the station was covered by scaffolding, the interior was pretty much the same as it always had been.